Wanting Bitter Revenge
by personqwer
Summary: Taffyta is sick and tired of Vanellope, and doesn't like her at all. Even though she has taken back the title as ruler of Sugar Rush, Taffyta cant help but wish she never did, and King Candy still ruled. But when she meets an old foe to the game who feels the same way about Vanellope's rule, she decided to team up with him and exact their revenge in a way anything but sweet.
1. Chapter 1

"Gonna have to try harder than that, Taffyta!" Vanellope calls back as she glitches far ahead of the strawberry themed racer, to her dismay. Taffyta had her spot in first place for so long during this race! And that glitch had to ruin it all.

Zooming past the finish line, Vanellope drives a bit further and stops her car, fist pumping the air in celebration. Taffyta soon follows the president, muttering curses under her breath as she stops a few feet from the black haired girl. Looking behind her, Taffyta sees the next batch of racers cross the candy coated finish line in order, Gloyd Orangeboar, Snowanna Rainbeau, Adorabeezle Winterpop, Candlehead, and Minty Zaki.

The rest must be still racing. They took a lot of power up damage from what Taffyta had heard.

Vanellope gets on top of the hood of her car and peers back out onto the track for the sight of the last two racers who would be the next day's nine avatars for the gamers to play as.

"Here comes Rancis and Swizzle!" Vanellope calls, and almost at that same moment, Swizzle uses his "Sugar Rush" power up and powers past Rancis, who's jaw drops slightly as he had almost gotten 8th place, but was reduced to 9th. Rancis sighs when he passes the finish line.

Soon the remaining racers cross the finish line, but knowing they didn't make the roster, they just look down and either scowl or sigh. The roster winners step out of their cars and take their helmets off, Taffyta doing it a bit angerly and tossing her helmet inside her kart's seat with spite. The winners crowd around Vanellope, who is still on her car's hood, announces to them,

"Congrats my fellow racers! You guys are the next avatars, like you don't already know that already, heheh."

Gloyd smiles. He hasn't been a roster winner for awhile now, and he was running low on gold coins. This was a lifesaver for him.

Taffyta was one of the richer characters from Sugar Rush. For years when King Candy was still in rule, she won a lot. That is, when the king let her win. Which wasn't often, even though he was a jolly king then it was obvious to Taffyta that he got really mad when he didn't win. Taffyta didn't blame him, it really peeved her off NOW when Vanellope always does her little cheat to win the roster race, and everyone called it fair just because she was royalty. It was unfair, she was a much better racer than Vanellope and everyone knew it. Hopefully, they knew it…

Oh if only King Candy was still in rule, Taffyta thought bitterly, I'd still be winning with pride, at least. Second place then was much different than second place now. King Candy always played fair.

None of the other racers would be able t know how Taffyta felt. They all loved Vanellope, Taffyta didn't.

Vanellope seems to take notice of Taffyta's bitter mood, and says to her, "Oh, cheer up, Taffyta! You might win next time!"

Taffyta scowls when she hears a few of the racers giggle around her. She does not look up, and the rim of her hat shadows her eyes.

Candlehead nudges Taffyta encouragingly. "C'mon, Taff. Vanellope means that! You'll beat her one day!"

_No she doesn't, _Taffyta thinks.

Vanellope chuckles. "Well, since the arcade is about to open, I suggest you all get in positions around the starting line until a quarter alert sounds in maybe.. Thirty minutes. Maybe fifteen. I'm not keeping track of time here!"

As soon as the president's words have been spoken, the racers all do so, getting in position due to the place they got in the roster race. Taffyta, getting second place, is a bit farther behind than the glitch, but in front of everyone else.

As soon as Vanellope drives her trashy junk kart into its position, she gets out and announces, "I'm gonna go visit Ralph real fast! Be back in a few minutes!"

She starts to run down the track and two the rainbow bridge, glitching herself forward so she wastes no time and she pushes herself through the barrier. She could leave the game now, not being a glitch anymore. But somehow she still had that little teleport power that cost Taffyta her hard-earned wins for the past weeks since King Candy's downfall. Taffyta guessed only having a tiny, controlled ability to glitch somehow didn't qualify as a character being a real glitch, and she could still leave the game now.

Taffyta remembered that first real day of Vanellope being a playable character again. She, Candlehead, Rancis, and a few others took her outside of the game for the first time and she was thrilled, especially being able to see her best friend Ralph's game, Fix it Felix Jr.. Vanellope remembered that to be her first time seeing a real animal not made of candy: Ducks. For some reason, Felix was terrified of the ducks. Taffyta didn't know why but didn't really want to ask. Visiting Heros Duty was a bit tough for Vanellope, Cybugs being horrifying creatures that nearly tore Sugar Rush literally to pieces, but she managed. And the wedding between that sergeant lady and Felix was never interrupted by the scary things.

Taffyta stands by her hard candy kart and pulls out a lollipop from her jacket's pocket, and chews on it. This last set of minutes better go by fast. Maybe, just maybe, a player would choose her and she could win. Players always chose that dirty-haired brat Vanellope only because she could unfairly cheat and none of the other racers could. Plus, she was always on the roster. Why? Her cheat.

And Taffyta couldn't do anything about it because Vanellope was the president, and she had to show Vanellope respect if she ever spoke to her. Vanellope was fine at Taffyta being mad at her for winning, but Taff could never go out and insult the games ruler. King Candy was much more deserving of this kingdom than this cheating glitch!

Rancis takes notice of Taffyta's irritation, and walks over to her a bit awkwardly. "Hey, Taffy, you okay?" He asks with his small accent.

"I'm fine, Rancis…" Taffyta spat, tearing a sugary chunk off of her lollipop.

"You don't look fine. And I'm your friend, you can tell me things." He replies, with a concerned smile, trying to urge Taffyta to say what's on her mind.

"Fine. It's the glitch, Fluggerbutter."

Rancis seems taken aback by the old nickname they had used to give Vanellope. "Uh, Taffyta, it's kind of rude to call her 'glitch' when she's our ruler…"

"I don't care!" Taffyta says, tossing the remains of her lollipop on the ground and glaring at Rancis. "I've had quite enough of her cheat! I haven't won a single race since she took to power, and I always nearly do! Its her little unfair power that gets her the win she didn't earn fair and square!"

Rancis puts his hands behind his back and nervously looks as his feet and rocks back and forth slightly on his heels. "W-well, Um, Taffyta… Not to be rude or anything, but, she IS the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, right? I guess we should let her be able to cheat-"

"No! Just because she has a stupid little princess or president title over her name doesn't give her any racing advantages! Sour Bill does most of the real work for her, she just takes the credit! King Candy should still be in power, he respected the rules and always won fairly!"

The chocolate themes boy's eyes widen at the mention of the old dictator of this sugary racing game. "Taffyta, I don't think you know what you're talking about-"

"Of course I know what I'm talking about! Vanellope gives me nothing but sass after these races! All she does is take advantage of her 'right' to live in the castle and be royal, all she does is race and race and race and enjoy herself with that smelly wrecker Ralph! And everyone here loves her for it! Well, Rancis, news flash. I don't take that too lightly."

Rancis, unsure of what to say next, just awkwardly steps back to his own kart and says nothing more.

A few of the other racers had saw Rancis and Taffyta's argument, but they decided not to interfere. They all knew how angry Taffyta could get.

About ten minutes had passed before Vanellope came glitching back through the portal-gate and into the game, looking as happy and giddy as ever. Taffyta narrowed her eyes at her, and huffed.

"Hey, guys, did I miss anything?" Vanellope asks as she skips back to her trash kart and leans on it casually.

"Not much," Rancis says, and backs down a bit with Taffyta gives him a warning glare, and he doesn't mention his argument with Taffyta.

"Great!" Vanellope says, jumping a bit for joy. "I'm ready to race! The arcade should be opening any second now, Ralph said so. I would have stayed longer but I had to come back to my game."

She was right. Vanellope needed to be here because she was on the stupid roster…

And she was also correct about the Arcade opening. In the distance, the sugary racers heard the sound of kids entering the arcade eagerly. A Quarter alert sounded almost immediately, and the racers all put their helmets on, except for Vanellope, who didn't have any sort of protective gear. She didn't need it because of her glitch ability.

Taffyta got into her car as Vanellope did to her left as well. Taffyta barely anticipated the player choosing her. Which, she didn't need to. Vanellope's movements became slower and more, what's the word, controlled. That player had chosen her, of course. At this rate Taffyta would forget what it meant to be played as.

A floating marshmallow floated in front of the starting line, and began to count down, holding his white fluffy hand out with each word and gesturing the number with his fingers. On the player's screen it showed actual numbers flashing on the screen. But as soon as the countdown hit zero, all the racers short forward.

Vanellope's driving movements were visibly different than normal, the player was driving, not her. But she did manage to glitch in front of Snowanna, who had taken the lead. Taffyta passed her and tried catching up with Vanellope. She had a chance at beating her here, since it wasn't REALLY Vanellope driving. But she still had that darn glitch she could control… She always glitched in front of someone when the player found his or herself an opportunity. Vanellope cheated even though she was being controlled. It was unfair. Completely and utterly unfair.

But Taffyta couldn't seem to drive ahead of the glitch. The player was too good, and Vanellope's cheat made it hard. And her ugly kart was so sloppily made that it basically had all of the good things about a kart and barely any flaws, besides being a completely vile thing to look at. It was the best kart in the game, an all around, and was hard to beat. Taffyta was fast, but didn't have the best handling, unfortunately. But Taffyta wasn't being controlled, so she knew exactly how to drive her kart so she could find advantages at her poor handling and incredible speed.

Driving into the Gumball gorge, Taffyta easily maneuvers around the falling gumballs, while some racers behind her are hit and spin out. Vanellope is still far in front beside Rancis, easily glitching around the boy and driving onto the boost pads and she's launched into the next part of the track.

"Sweet Seekers!" The announcer yells. A large cannon grows out of the front of Taffyta's kart, and driving off of the booster pads, shoots her three rockets. The first hits Rancis, who spins out, and the next goes for Vanellope. But, the player knew what to do. Vanellope drops a Cherry Bomb behind her and the rocket hits that instead. The final rocket hit's the wall. Taffyta is just about to ready to punch the wall.

Gripping the steering wheel with an iron fist, Taffyta puts her foot down on the gas pedal as hard as she can. She wanted to yell insults at Vanellope, but knowing she couldn't for two reasons, the Arcade was open, and Vanellope was the president, she keeps her mouth shut and just sends a death glare at the back of Vanellope's head. If looks could kill, Vanellope would be off the track by now. The rest of the racers are far behind the two girls now, as they were the best of the best in this game. But what made Taffyta the angriest is that Vanellope shouldn't be the best of the best.

Taffyta, seeing the finish line approaching, just manages to pull ahead of Vanellope, gritting her teeth with anticipation. She might be able to win this time. But looking over, she sees Vanellope winking at her. Her jaw dropping a bit, all of her chances of winning this race were crushed by a blue flash of 0's and 1's over the president, and she appears in front of Taffyta and she crosses the finish line. The player says, "Yes!" in the joy that they had one at such a tight race with Taffyta.

Taffyta pulls across the finish line too, and stopping when the player's screen switches to "Continue by inserting two more coins" Or something like that, Taffyta pounds her steering wheel as hard as she can with her fist. Assuming the player left, Vanellope regains control of her body and snickers at Taffyta's fit.

This just makes Taffyta angrier.

"Hey, Muttonfudge!"

Taffyta froze. She didn't like her last name being used to address her. Especially by that.. That glitch. Especially after that day where Vanellope teased her by saying her last name suited her, with "Mutton, as in the chunkiest of all the Sugar Rush racers".

Looking over with a scowl, Taffyta spits out a reply. "What is it, Miss president?"

"You okay over there? You look really angry! Mad I beat you again? Better luck next time, Taff!"

All the racers pull up to their positions again and wait for the next player to come and race with them.

And that day was painful. Taffyta just got angrier and angrier by the minute. Each and every race she nearly got the finish line, but Vanellope stole her rightful spot with a glitch blue teleport. Each. And. Every. Time.

As soon as that girl from Dance Dance Revolution announces the coast to be clear. Taffyta rips her helmet off and puts it in her lap, tired of it being on her head and she drives off, fuming, before anyone can stop her. She needs time to be alone. Perhaps in the candy cane woods. Didn't matter. She couldn't take to be around that annoying little glitch any longer. Or anybody for all that matter. She has had enough of everyone taking to Vanellope's side.

She thought she heard someone calling her name, but she didn't look back. She didn't care about them at the moment, she needed to cool down.

When she was finally far enough away when all that could be heard was the gentle breeze through the candy cane trees, Taffyta got out of her kart and threw her helmet into the driver's seat.

Stomping with rage, Taffyta makes her way to a tree and just pounds her fist on it. It hurts her hand, but she doesn't care. Turning around, she leans against it and slides to the ground, burying her face in her hands as she tries not to cry. She knew she was ruining her reputation and she hated it. All because of that stupid glitch taking the throne she didn't deserve- that she never deserved. From the start she was a spoiled brat.

But before King Candy took to power, she wore that frilly pink dress of hers more often, and raced in an official racing suit rather than her ratty hoodie and skirt. But she was only like that for a couple days. Then she basically vanished and King Candy appeared, and since the racers all lost their memories of her at the time, they were just fine with King Candy. He looked royal, after all, so he was accepted.

Just as Taffyta feels tears forming at her eyes, she looks up to hear her name being called. Probably Rancis and Candlehead. They were her closest friends. But, they didn't seem to get the hint that Taffyta didn't want to be bothered. Taffyta wiped her eyes and got up, and didn't bother to get back in her car. The roar of her engine would just attract unwanted attention, and Taffyta was in no mood to explain why she ran off like that. Besides, they would never agree with her. Taffyta liked King Candy as ruler much better. They didn't. They all loved Vanellope. Taffyta would never fit in that way.

Taffyta started to run. She wasn't sure where, but it was away from the voices of her friends. The trees started to get thicker, and the atmosphere soon got darker. Taffyta has never been this far in the woods before. She slowed to a slow trot, then a nervous walk. She shivered. The tree's branches seemed to be curling around each other, trapping Taffyta in.

But of course she was just paranoid. Hopefully she wouldn't get TOO lost in this forest…

The ground began to turn brown with matted, dirty, or as dirty as candy could get, chocolate dust dirt. The trees seemed to darken as well as the ground, and the voices of Rancis and Candlehead faded in the distance.

The eerie silence unnerved Taffyta, and she eventually stopped next to a taffy swamp pool. The green color of the murky taffy was darkened as well as the rest of the scenery, and Taffyta saw down next to it, propping her arms up with her elbows against her knees, and put her chin on her closed fists.

Staring at the taffy, Taffyta just sighed and tried to get herself under control. Everything was going to be fine. Once she let Rancis and Candlehead find her she'd just tell them she needed time to be alone. She'd get back to her car, drive to her house, and everything would be alright. She wasn't really in the mood to race anymore tonight. She didn't need to have Vanellope beat her again.

"What are you going to do with yourself, Taffyta?" Taffyta muttered to herself, looking into her murky reflection in the water. "You used to the best of the not-royal racers… Now you've been reduced to a jealous mound of a candy-filled jerk…And now everyone abandoned me to Vanellope…"

Of course, she remembered she had Rancis and Candlehead. But Taffyta knew they would choose Vanellope's side if Taffyta started to get mad and throw insults at the princess.

Taffyta gets up and sighs, crossing her arms and kicking a hard candy rock into the swamp. It slowly sinks under and isn't seen anymore.

…Clink.

Taffyta perks up and looks back down into the swamp. She heard a clink from under it. Did that rock fall through this swamp and into a cave below?

Taffyta kneels down, and rolls her jacket sleeve up and sticks her hand into the sticky marsh. It went down to her elbow, but Taffyta pushed her arm farther, all the way up to her shoulder, and it got on her jacket anyway. But, the tips of her fingers, at the bottom of the pool, seemed to poke out of it into open air. Or.. A cave for that matter.

A hidden cave under the taffy swamp? Pulling her gooey arm out o f the marsh, Taffyta realizes she would have to mark this area so she wouldn't lose it again. Turning her head toward a large, dead and rotted Candy cane tree, and runs over to it and wipes off her arm all over the tree, so it's dark colors contrast with the ooey green swamp taffy. It was incredibly noticeable, Taffyta surely wouldn't lose this place now.

Taffyta realized that if she wanted to see what was in that cave, she'd have to jump in that swamp and sink down too. But at the moment, Taffyta told herself she could wash her clothes later.

Stepping up to the swamp, Taffyta hesitates. Just how far down did this thing fall?

"Taaafffyytaaa!"

Taffyta whirled around to the sound of Candlehead calling her name. They were getting closer, and obviously were riding in the same kart. If she didn't act fast, she'd be asked about what she was doing. And she did not want to see those people, and this could be her only chance at finding a place all to herself! Taffyta told herself to suck it up and jump.

Holding her breath, Taffyta ran full speed to the swamp and made a jump for it, she landed in the swamp with an ooey splash, that hopefully wasn't loud enough for Candlehead and Rancis to hear, and she began to sink.

Taffyta had to urge herself not to fight to swim to the surface, and closed her eyes as her head went under.

Tafftya felt her legs being exposed to open air, and the rest of her body fell out of the taffy covering and onto the ground below her.

"Euugh.. Gross…" Taffyta complained, wiping the dark green taffy out of her eyes and off her arms, and she tried to comb it out of her hair with her fingers.

Looking up, she realized that the taffy swamp acted as a thick covering of a hole next to a candy cane tree. The roots to the tree were behind her. She looked around, and she was in a dark cave. It was really dark, and the only light there was the little light that made it through the taffy swamp around Taffyta. Everything else was pitch blackness.

Taffyta slowly got up. Somewhere at the surface she heard the rumbling of a kart driving around. They wouldn't find her now, that's for sure.

Taffyta wiped the taffy off of her jacket and started to shake the rest of it off. Most of it came off easily, it wasn't as thick as taffy could be, it being kind of warm down here, it didn't harden much.

Once she was almost clean, Taffyta heard a noise.

"…Chriiiiii…"

Taffyta spun around, wide eyed to meet the monster beside her. Glowing green eyes met her own in the darkness. Taffyta's mouth opened slowly in a silent scream.

It was a cybug.


	2. Chapter 2

Rancis and Candlehead rode on Candlehead's kart while they searched for their friend Taffyta. Candlehead's kart had a source of light in the dark part of these woods so it proved the better option to search for. It could also send up a flare if they ever needed help, consider how dark this forest was getting. The atmosphere gave the two candy kids chills down their spines, even the programmed-to-be-sunny-all-the-time sky seemed to darken somehow. Almost like it did when the cybugs overran their game. But this wasn't quite as dark and horrifying.

Riding in silence, Rancis and Candlehead quietly looked around for Taffyta. She had run off for no reason, to them it seemed. Candlehead drove slower then her usual, so Rancis, who was seated at the back of her kart, didn't fall off.

Candlehead's candle and the candles on her kart were the only real lighting up sources of light after a few more minutes. The trees' dark branches at the dark canopy over the forest seemed to tangle and tangle with each other, blocking out most of the sunlight which was already dim to begin with.

"You sure Taffyta went this way, Rancis…?" Candlehead asks warily, unnerved by the creepy and dark scenery. This game wasn't supposed to be this scary, its whole theme was happy and cheery! Why haven't they noticed this part of the forest before?

"Pretty certain, Candlehead. I saw her drive off this way. You saw her kart back there, I saw her footprints. She must have ran off in this direction."

Candlehead nods. "But.. I just wonder why she would do that. Sure, she was mad because none of the players picked her today, or ever since the whole King Candy incident, but I didn't think she'd get so mad she ran off…"

Rancis nods slowly, his heart starting to race when he thought he saw something move, but it was just the wind blowing around a few thin crooked candy branches which resembled a clawed hand. "A-and she's been really mad at Vanellope lately," pausing, Rancis chooses not to tell Candlehead about their argument, yet. "-I- I can tell. Do you think it's because she keeps winning because of her glitch ability?"

"Must be, she always gets really peeved off when she loses against her in a race she had a chance of winning. You know how much she liked winning, even though King Candy made it almost impossible for her up until a few weeks ago."

"Umm, would you think that Taffyta wishes King Candy was still ruler?…" Rancis carefully presses on.

Candlehead says nothing for a few moments. "You know… From what I've seen I would say yes. She was much happier before Vanellope started ruling. But, after those first few days of Vanellope being a playable character, I've noticed a big attitude shift in Taffyta…"

"W-well… Don't let her know I told you this, she'll kill me but, She told me that she thought King Candy was much more deserving of the throne in our argument this morning. You know, the one which she kept quiet in, so only I could hear her?"

Candlehead quiets.

Rancis shivers at the sudden silence. "You… You don't think she actually meant that, do you? She could have just been angry…"

"I don't know, Rancis," Candlehead breathes out, staring at the landscape in front of her. "I would hope she didn't mean it, I mean, we're talking about the King Candy who tore apart Vanellope's code and made her a glitch so he could take the throne, locked up our memories of her and all of Vanellope's memories, and took our game like he's owned it his whole life."

Pausing again, Candlehead continues, "And tried to kill Vanellope during a race, then tried to kill Ralph from what I've heard… I really hope Taffyta was just really angry and just ranted to you…"

"I do too, Candlehead… And I hope she didn't run off and do something really stupid."

Rancis quiets down for a minute. Then finally says, "I'm more concerned about if she's hurt or not."

"She'll just regenerate, right?"

"Yeah, but she might not have died. Just could be in pain, fell off something, you know? She cant blitz out of danger with a glitch like Vanellope can."

"Lets hope we find her soon.. Vanellope might get suspicious or worried if we don't find her soon."

Rancis nods, but looks up, seeing a glint of green in the darkness. For a moment he panics. Was it a cybug? It couldn't be, the eruption killed them all off-

But at second glance, no, its this gooey stuff slathered all over a tree.

"Candlehead, look at that!" Rancis says, pointing to the tree with the dark green goo on it.

"Wha-… What's that?" Candlehead asks herself, driving a bit closer, close enough so Rancis can reach out off the side of the kart and dip his finger in it.

Rancis does so a bit cautiously. This stuff could be poisonous. Scraping a bit of the ooze off the dead tree, he sniffs it.

"It's taffy."

"Maybe from that little Taffy swamp over there?" Candlehead asks, pointing to a little pool of the same green stuff.

"Maybe… That could mean Taffyta went this way! Which way should we look first?"

"Umm, this way!" Candlehead declares, driving straight forward and away from the swamp and tree. Rancis could have sworn he heard something scream as they drove farther and farther away, but the loud roar of Candlehead's engine made it hard to hear, so he couldn't be sure. He found himself looking back at the sound of the yell, but there was nothing there.

Shrugging, Rancis looks forward again, but is still a little creeped out. Were these woods haunted?

**Back in the cave.**

Taffyta screamed. That's all she could think to do, backing up as quickly as she could that she stumbled and hit the wall she never noticed.

The Cybug made a shrieking noise, and started crawling toward the racer. In the light, Taffyta could see it had a brown colorization, it had a pattern of darker brown and lighter browns on its legs and its back was solid dark brown, like a rock. It was perfect camouflage.

Taffyta kept screaming, but the loud noise only agitated the cybug further. It reared up, opening its mouth in another loud screech, spinning blades radiated by glowing neon green light in its mouth to match its eyes. Taffyta squeezed her eyes shut and thought it was all over.

Until,

"Aye! Buggy, back off!" A voice yelled, a man's voice, and something came up to the cubug and whacked it in the side with a candy cane tree branch, it too being darker colored than normal. The cybug screamed a horrible scream, but with a few more hits, the figure managed to somehow beat that thing into submission, though the cybug barely took any damage.

"Now scram, you overgrown piece of shit flea!"

It backed off and made angry chattering noises and curled its legs underneath it in the corner of the room.

"You alright, kid?"

Taffyta had started to cry, backed up in her own corner as far as she could go. She felt her makeup run, but she didn't care. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up, trying to get control over herself, though it was hard because she nearly got eaten alive by the very thing that caused her and all of Sugar Rush nightmares.

What she saw made her eyes widen.

Taffyta saw a man not too much taller than her, but he certainly looked much older and uglier than she was. He had pale grey skin, piercing yellow red eyes that glowed, and in the dim light she could see his teeth were just as yellow as his eyes were. Gross.

He wore a white racing jumpsuit with a red stripe around the collar, save for a dash of white where the zipper would be. The red stripes went down his arms and around his wrists where the sleeves ended. He had red boots with white soles, which his racing suit were tucked into at the moment, and he had two pockets lined with red at his stomach. But his most defining feature was his helmet.

It was a round racing helmet, white, but covered with chocolate dust and had a red "T" on it, like it stood for something. His nose was pointed, and he had smile wrinkles, as if he smiled a whole lot before.

Taffyta thought she had seen this guy somewhere before, but she didn't know where.

"W-who.. Who are you..?" Taffyta weakly asks, still very shaken by the cybug attack.

The man chuckled, as if it was really hilarious to him that Taffyta didn't know who he was.

"I'm Turbo. The greatest racer to ever exist in this arcade!"

The name Turbo seemed to click something in Taffyta's memory. She had heard of him before. He was one of Litwak's very first games when the arcade opened thirty years ago. He had been the most popular game in the whole arcade, and everyone knew him, and he was very much respected, despite being an apparent jerk more often than not.

But he became forever famous when he abandoned his game and destroyed another new game called RoadBlasters out of jealousy that it started to sap up all of his players and attention. Thus creating the term "Going Turbo" for those people who "game jumped".

"Y-you're… You're Turbo…. I've heard of you before.."

"Good. You don't leave your game enough if you haven't heard of me. Everyone who's alive right now has heard of me. But, you might know me better as-"

As if he cut himself off, in a flurry of red pixels and glitches and code, Turbo glitches with a sudden flash into the form of an old man his same height, a purple jacket, red bow tie, crown…

"King Candy."

Turbo's voiced changed to that of the jolly king's voice when he glitched into this form. Taffyta's jaw dropped.

"You.. You're K-King Candy?" Taffyta asked, though as soon as Turbo did this. Turbo just smiled with a cocky and proud expression and nodded.

"Yesth sthirree. I'm the previousth ruler of Sthugar Rushth. That isth, until that damn GLITCH came along…"

Taffyta remembered hearing something about "Turbo being King Candy" in that first week of the game's reset, but at the time she wasn't exactly sure what they all meant by that. She never stayed in the game to see the jumbotron and the "big reveal" or whatever that was. She had fled the game as soon as the cybugs emerged from the ground.

"You know, I think it's quite foolish of me to be giving you all thisth information when I couldn't possibly trustht you, Msth. Muttonfudge… You've found my location and the newsth that there isth a thybug in the game… How could I trustht you to not blab about it…"

Taffyta tensed. Tur- King Candy's tone made her think he was going to kill her or something.

"Well, I COULD sthick this thybug on you… Stho my sthecret would be sthafe…"

The cybug reacts with a slight chitter. As if it anticipates the privilege to devour the pink racer.

"N-no-no pl-please don't kill me Turbo, auhh.. K-King, y-your highness, s-sir… I promise I wont tell anybody!.." Taffyta begs crouching down lower, but eyeing the cybug fearfully.

"And how do I know you're not lying? I could let you go right now-"

Turbo gestures toward Taffyta when he says you, and gestures to the taffy swamp covering over the hole when he says 'let you go right now'.

"And I would have no way of knowing if you left in a hasthte to go tattle on me to your PRECIOUSTH PRINCESSTH."

Turbo makes a bunch of annoyed and quick hand gestures to go along with his words, lowering his eyebrows into a glare, he stares down Taffyta, expecting an answer.

"Vanellope? Why would I tell HER anything? I hate her!"

"You hate Vanellope?" Turbo echos, suddenly glitching back into his original form, his voice changing back to his true one.

"You're kidding, right? Tell me, you're kidding."

"No, I'm not. She keeps using her stupid little cheat on the racetrack-"

"Cheat? What cheat?"

"Her glitch. She kept her stupid glitch after the reset somehow, and uses it to teleport when she races. Really unfair. I hate it. I wished she never took the throne…"

Turbo thought for a minute. The cybug behind him impatiently shifting and making bug noises. With every move Taffyta tensed up with fear.

"Say… I know this might sound crazy, but how badly are you willing to get Vanellope out of her rule?"

"Anything, your highness… Or, Turbo or whatever you want to be called… Maybe not kill her because that's really really low, but just make her pay… Any way to make her pay. A trip to the fungeon, maybe… For a really long time. Let the racers choose me for once. Give me my glory in this game back… Even though I always lost to King Candy- err.. You I guess, most of that time, I still got second place most of the time with pride. I knew I was racing against someone who was actually BETTER than I was-"

Turbo's chest swells a little with pride and he smiles, his smile lines defining much more in his big grin. Taffyta could tell he grinned a whole lot in his day.

"-But Vanellope… She's no better than any of us. She just keeps winning constantly because of her stupid cheat. Even when the players don't choose her, and unfortunately they might choose somebody else than me, she still wins most of the time, unless the player is just really good, which is rare…"

Turbo nods slowly. "I see. Well, would you maybe… Want to use these cybugs in the process of bringing the glitch down? I hate her probably much more than you do… She and that stupid wrecking warthog destroyed my rule and ruined all my hard work and plans… I should have killed her from the start, but I was foolish enough to turn her into a glitch first. She got away that day…"

"Anyway.. Taffyta, you might be able to help me. Nobody would suspect you to help a 'psychopath who's supposed to be dead'. You'll blend right in with the crowd.. Maybe even get Vanellope do do things for you or go places…. If not, I might have to consider killing you right here and now."

Taffyta's blood turned to ice and her eyes widened.

"So, do we have a deal or not? Tear that annoying little glitch down from her title and restore me as ruler. What's in it for you, you might ask? You get to be one of the most popular avatars on the roster alongside me. Get played as often. Become popular again, just like you love."

"But.. How would you pull off tearing Vanellope down..?"

Turbo reaches into his pocket and pulls out a napkin. An old, wrinkled one from Tapper's. Briefly showing Taffyta the other side, and it shows a code of some sort. Turbo spins it back around and stuffs it back in his pocket before Taffyta could read it properly.

"That's my universal code. It opens all the code vaults in the arcade. Like a skeleton key. I use that to get in the code vault, we toy with the code a bit and everyone's memories, and kerblam, I'm back in business. Ralph and everyone else… Well, I could go into their games and erase their memories of Vanellope as well. I might have to, actually… They might sense something being up, and they cant know I'm alive still. I'll fill their memories of be always being ruler in this sugary game!"

That plan seemed pretty good according to Taffyta. Turbo seemed to know he was doing, as if he had planned this scheme for all the weeks he had been "dead".

"And you WONT tell anybody of my plans… I'll have you killed by the cybugs! I'll toy with the game's code more, give them the ability to reproduce which they lost during the reset.. Along with becoming more passive, as you can see. I'll make them aggressive again- loyal to only me! Hahahahaha- and YOU'LL be the first to feel my wrath, this game will fall, I'll destroy the mentos above Diet Cola mountain so the cybugs cant be stopped again. Either you go along with my plans, or you, and this game crumbles. I'll find another game to take over. If this game crashes, Litwak will meet his demands to get another racing game, being as popular as they are! Heheueheuheehehahahahaha, and I'll take over that game as well!"

Taffyta thought this racer was mad. But, she couldn't blame him. Hiding away for years after his "Going Turbo" accident for years until Sugar Rush came out, and having to rule a bunch of candy kids he wasn't coded to by origin, it probably would give someone a bit of a crazy side.

"F-fine… I will.. I'll help you…" Taffyta finally says, trying to find confidence in her voice as she slowly got up. "..Deal."

"Good girl. Hahahahaha… With you, training these overgrown shit beetles should be a piece of cake!"

"Training…?"

"Yes! Training! I'm training these cybugs that remain in this game. They're a bit more passive than the average cybug, because after the reset, it kinda jammed their code with sugary nice code, and they became only sliiightttllyyy more passive and trainable. Either that, or I still reek of cybug… Eugh…" Turbo shudders from a horrid memory, "I hope it's the first one,"

"But.. Why are there still some cybugs left in the game? Didn't the eruption kill them all-"

"No! Of course not. The blaring light of that damn, blistering hot cola didn't reach underground. There were still the deepest darkest holes and chasms under the nice sugary above land that the cybugs swarmed. Those cybugs were not affected, because they did not see the 'dazzling' light. I eventually found them, and they did try to kill me, but I managed to beat some sense into them. I know, it surprised me too. But I quickly figured out that the reset not only made them trainable, but erased their ability to reproduce asexually. You see, that's a big virus thing. The reset cleared some of their virus attributes, like rapid reproducing. But, they CAN reproduce if they mate. I have a couple baby cybugs here and there, but they're passive too. I had to train these cybugs NOT to do that so I wasn't overwhelmed."

"Is that why.. You need me?" Taffyta asked.

"Yes. I have a ton of cybugs I need to train, and I am not patient enough to deal with all of them on my own. And I'm thinking we can train them like attack dogs…"

Taffyta understands now. He wants to train the cybugs to attack Vanellope or anyone who tries to defend her and get to that code vault and fix up the code to his liking. But of course, he would have to do the same to the other games who knew of Vanellope's rule. Which wasn't much, Sugar Rush didn't get too many visitors, and only had any real interactions with Fix it Felix Jr. and Hero's Duty. They had a small connection with Tapper's and BurgerTime, but that was just for food exchanges. Turbo would most definitely erase the memory of Vanellope to anyone who opposed him with his power in his universal code.

"I've heard viruses can block even glitches from being able to escape… Cybugs are like viruses.. Vanellope wont be able to blip free of their grasp…"

"Now you're getting it." Turbo says, laughing evilly under his breath. With a sadistic tone and expression, he says with a grin, "And cybugs can bring a hell of a world of pain to those they attack."

Taffyta nodded, imagining trained cybugs tearing up Oreo guards while Turbo ran for the code vault, and one of those holding Vanellope down as she desperately tried to glitch away from the monster bug but couldn't. Any of those who tried to alert the rest of the game were eaten or corralled into a corner… Taffyta felt a sudden sensation in her brain. Half of her wanted to see this happen. But she knew it was wrong. Was the cybug's aura making her a bit more violent just like a cybug's aura effects the scenery of where groups of them live? This she did not know.

"I like that plan…"

"Good. Now, you must go home. I bet your friends are waiting for you. Don't speak a single word of this, or me, or the cybugs. Meet me back here at this cave, same way you entered, tomorrow after the arcade closes."

Leaning in close to Taffyta's face, with his already black surrounded eyes with bags under them, he stares Taffyta down with an expression with such hatred and distrust, he says,

"One word about this, and you'll be the first I torture. My cybugs will stop at nothing until I'm taken back out of the fungeon they throw me in. I wont stay there for long. Either you go along with this like a good little sugary girl, or I kill you."

Taffyta gulps, frightened by Turbo's seriousness in his statement, and she nods quickly.

"Now scram, kid. I mean everything I said, you better remember that."

With a snap of his fingers, Turbo points toward Taffyta, and the cybug gets up and scuttles toward her. Taffyta panics, thinking it's gonna eat her. But Turbo yells out to it,

"Stay!"

And it does, it freezes in place before it could open its mouth for a tasty meal it expected. Making a chatter noise, it sinks down a bit, obeying Turbo's command.

"Now, get on top of it, Taffyta."

Taffyta hesitates, but Turbo's glare told her she better obey him too. She carefully climbs on top of the brown-armored bug, and it barely reacts. Its wings sheathed, Taffyta finds no obstacle to get in her way and she stands on its back.

"Up." Turbo commands, and at once the brown, chocolate cybug stands up, and keeps stretching its legs until Taffyta's head pokes the Taffy swamp's bottom, and pushes her up to the surface easily. Taffyta gets the hint and shakes the taffy off of her, and hops back onto solid land. The cybug makes a weird inhuman noise as it sinks back down into the cave, probably a hungry one, but Turbo says it to shut up. Turning his attention back to Taffyta, Turbo says,

"Now go back to your pretty little candy racers, Muttonfudge. If you know what's good for you and your game."

Taffyta nods, knowing that she can tell nobody. But as the hole she made in the taffy swamp starts to fuse back together, Taffyta catches a glimpse of Turbo's darkened expression. He has a weird half smile on it.

As if he was planning Taffyta's own death.


	3. Chapter 3

The walk back to her kart was a long and antagonizing one. Taffyta kept worrying about what Turbo might do to her if she ever let his secret slip. She knew he made it clear that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her and everyone else who got the news, or at the very least, best case scenario, kill only her and erase the memories of both her and Vanellope from the rest of the racers, but that had a catch to it. If Vanellope suddenly vanished, Litwak could get suspicious. But other than that it seemed like something Turbo could pull off if he was very careful, and that did not comfort Taffyta at the slightest.

Once the trees and sky and ground started to brighten as the cybug's effect on the scenery faded, Taffyta saw the glint the sun shone on her car and she ran over to it, completely shaken by her experience. Recapping what exactly just happened, Taffyta takes a deep breath.

Okay… She had found out there was cybugs left in sugar rush in its deepest darkest chasms.

Check.

The pretty much downright crazy dictator King Candy- err, Turbo was still alive and planning to use the cybugs to overrun the game once more if he needed to, tear Vanellope down from her role as ruler and possibly drag her outside of her game and murder her.

Check.

Taffyta had no choice but to agree to help the psychopath in training the monstrous bugs to fight and listen to Turbo.

Check.

Taffyta found out she half wanted to see Vanellope killed, thrown in the fungeon, or tortured.

Check…

Shivering as she gripped the side of her kart, Taffyta looked down at the ground and tried to calm herself down. She wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead hidden by her blonde bangs, and she inhaled deeply through her nose, and exhaled through her mouth.

Everything was going to be a-okay. Taffyta just couldn't spill a word to anyone, not even Rancis or Candlehead, and she had to act completely natural and go back to that spot she marked when the arcade closed tomorrow, and she would make it back to Turbo and he would explain more, he had to.

But how could she possibly act natural after all she had found out? She nearly got eaten by a CYBUG!

But Taffyta had to try. If she didn't and accidentally spilled the beans Turbo would literally not stop until she was killed and forgotten. Well what a great way to talk to a nine-year old. That retro racer was far off his rocker!

Taffyta grabbed her helmet and put it back on, and got back in her kart. Sighing, she started up the engine and started to drive back to the track. She needed to race this track to relax her, nice and calmly. No competition involved, she just needed time to think about this.

Taffyta was glassy-eyed thinking about everything when she returned, she was greeted by Adorabeezle and Swizzle when she made it back to the starting line. Swizzle jogged over to her when she stopped the kart in its position and refused to make eye contact with the boy. It was only those two racers there, thankfully.

"Taffyta! Where the heck have you been? We've all been worrying about you! Vanellope sent Rancis and Candlehead after you, they're probably still looking!"

"I'd rather not talk about it, Swizzle," Taffyta flatly replied uncharacteristically, "I have a lot on my mind right now."

"A lot on your mind? This isn't about Vanellope winning all the time is it?" Swizzle demanded, crossing his arms and looking as if he demanded an answer.

"I'm fine. Like I said, I'd rather not talk about it with anyone!" Taffyta snapped, "Now leave me alone!"

Taffyta gave him and Adorabeezle a warning glance, giving them the hint that she didn't want to be bothered. Adorabeezle didn't say anything, she wasn't one to talk a lot like Jubileena was. As Taffyta stepped on the gas pedal of her kart and took off down the racetrack a bit slower than usual, she just watched Taffyta leave with a concerned expression.

With the wind whipping at her face, Taffyta instantly relaxed. This is what she was programmed to do and it instantly calmed her nerves, but she still felt the nagging feeling of Turbo's hard glare warning her to keep her yap shut stuck at the back of her mind.

Barely paying attention to her surroundings, Taffyta just thought about how she would do anything now, and what the consequences would be. There were many possibilities, but how could Turbo punish someone who helped him achieve his goal?

Distrust, maybe?…

Taffyta didn't know. But she especially had to hide her feelings to herself when Vanellope was around. Taffyta especially didn't want to participate in the roster, it was probably to start soon and everyone was gone to get ready.

Taffyta decided she had to just simply relax and drive this track while it was still vacant.

**To the man in the chasms.**

Turbo laughed a bit when he heard Taffyta's quick steps run away from the hole the cybug had pushed her out of. By her pace Turbo could almost sense the fear radiate from her. That made him strangely confident in himself.

Damn, he had been down in these dark cave systems far too long. He was going nuts.

But Turbo couldn't complain. He found a place none of the Sugar Rush racers knew existed, full of cybugs, though, but at least these cybugs were trainable, and he already had started to. He didn't quite know the exact number he had, he had at least ten, and maybe, six or seven baby ones. They didn't mature as quick as they did in Hero's Duty, because that too was a virus quality. But they still grew up pretty quick. Just a few days ago he had ten babies.

The cybugs, being around and familiar with Turbo, had accepted him as their master, by his dominant aggression he showed on them to let them know who was boss, and they didn't exactly like the candy kids so far. The one that tried to eat Taffyta didn't exactly love her and Turbo guessed that emotion rubbed off on the other cybugs.

Turbo's most heavily trained Cybug, the one he first found and tried to eat him when they met, was a fairly large one, It was brown in color, but had milky swirls of white splotched around its protective shell, especially around its legs and wing sheathes. Turbo had trained that one hard enough to ride it. Turbo didn't have any licorice ropes in his possession, because those were vines somewhere above ground, and Turbo didn't want to risk being seen above ground to the best of his ability. He had to stick with climbing on the bugs back and tilting its front set of wing's sheathes left or right to change its direction. It was a difficult task, him having to be on his hands and knees to do it correctly, but Turbo pulled it off and tolerated it. Turbo hated walking everywhere, he needed fast travel. The cybug didn't replace his old kart or the stolen royal one, but it was better than nothing. The bug certainly got him places quickly, considering the chasms stretched across the entire map and cave systems were basically endless. But Turbo stuck to the chasm.

The chasm he had found the bugs in was deep underground, it cut in a diagonal line across the map, straight from the ice cream mountains down to the opposite side of the map. It was a handy way to get places, because it was big and wide enough to hold a swarm of flying cybugs through it, and it basically had cave systems attached that led to every major place on the map, including Vanellope's castle, ended pretty darn close to it, the bakery, the rainbow bridge to exit the game, it was all very handy.

Only problem is that it was really deep underground, and Turbo probably hasn't seen direct sunlight in a month. It would definitely be painful emerging from the musty undergrounds after so long. Turbo could barely wait for Taffyta. But Taffyta had a job. That job was to help HIM train his cybugs. She wouldn't be doing any of the actual training. Doing that would get Taffyta power over the bugs and they might see her as a leader too. If Taffyta turned on him that would not be tolerated.

Taffyta was going to be the person who kept watch over the cybugs he wasn't training, and made sure they didn't mate. That was going to be one of her main jobs, and she was also going to give him input on information when he needed it. Surely she knew what went on above ground , and out of the game. He could send Taffyta to fetch things, like information, maybe even find out where the code vaults are in Hero's Duty and Fix-It Felix Jr.

But what would he do with her after everything was finished?

"Well…" Turbo grumbled, sitting against a smooth rock in a cave system, not too far away from the chocolate rock cybug., "I could kill her. She would have known too much, I cant risk something like Sour Bill spilling out all of my secrets he remembered to Ralph…"

_What are you doing with yourself, Turbo?_

_Would you be doing this if we were still around?_

Turbo squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push the voices out of his head. Grimacing, he shook his head to try and rid of those silly imaginary voices. But he had to whisper to himself out loud,

"Shut up, you two… You're dead. Stay that way…"

Turbo sighed, and rubbed his eyes and temples to try and soothe his nerves.

He wasn't about to allow the memory of his brothers get in the way of his plans. They died with TurboTime.

Didn't they…?

**Mod here, Sorry this ones so short, but I guess it gives lots of information away. Plus I must sleep. And write out the next chapter to my other fan fiction. Heh. **

**Review pls? Gotta improve huehueheueheue.**


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